Chow remembers ‘deep wound’ on Tiananmen Square anniversary

Writing ahead of the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the Bishop of Hong Kong Cardinal Stephen Chow described “a deep wound” in Chinese society without naming the event.

In a column for his diocese’s Sunday Examiner on 30 May, Chow reflected on what he called “the life-sapping event that took place 35 years ago in the capital city”.

He recounted his memories of June 1989, which saw pro-democracy protests across mainland China violently suppressed and a wave of support for activists in Hong Kong. He said he could not “forget what I saw and felt ever so deeply on that night and the following weeks”. However, “my faith prompts me to forgive whoever and whatever,” he added.

Since he was appointed Bishop of Hong Kong, Chow has emphasised the importance of reconciliation with the Chinese mainland.  He made a five-day visit to Beijing in 2023, meeting senior state-sanctioned Church officials, and a second official visit to the mainland in April this year.

Hong Kong’s annual public commemorations of the massacre on 4 June – including prayers and Masses – have been suspended since 2022.

On 30 May, a Hong Kong court found 14 people guilty of subversion in the biggest national security case against pro-democracy campaigners since China imposed a draconian new law. The 14 convicted, along with 31 others who had pleaded guilty, could face life in jail, with sentencing expected later this year.

Most of the defendants had been kept behind bars since they were first brought to court in March 2021. The trial was held without a jury and the judges were chosen from a pool of jurists chosen by the Hong Kong authorities. The 31 who pleaded guilty had done so hoping for lenient sentences.

Diplomatic officers from the consulates of France, the European Union and Italy attended the court to hear the verdict. The US and other Western nations have criticised China for curtailing democracy and other freedoms promised when the former British colony was handed over to its control in 1997.

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